"Where is the sword of unity? I cannot see the trace of the greatest weapon I crafted in the treasury, the long sword" A shocked Danver said when he came to search for Rica in the castle. When she was nowhere to be found he went to look for her in the treasury. Access to the treasury was only given to the council members of Memoria with the use of a magic lock rune which opened with the help of magical keys crafted by Danver and Melania together. To his surprise, neither Rica nor the sword was to be found in the treasury.
As he was about to report this to the queen, his eyes were drawn to the secure chamber — its doors were wide open, and the magical lock had vanished. This room was designed only for high level magicians to access in case of emergencies related to the protection barrier. Protection barriers are created with the help of the magical device only when there is an occasion and all the citizens would be present. Alarmed, he rushed inside the secure chamber and found that the defensive device had been tampered with.
Fear crept into his heart, for everything pointed to something brewing in secret — something no one had yet realized. He increased his pace and hurriedly went out of the castle to report to Melania.
At the castle grounds, people were about to leave as the fireworks had stopped, but the knights blocked their path. The citizens were confused as to why the guards were blocking their way. Casper quickly took control of the situation, reassuring them, "The fireworks will continue shortly, so please remain within the palace grounds and enjoy the show."
The citizens, convinced by his calm tone, agreed to stay.
Casper thought to himself, The self-incantation device must have run out of mana. We need to get hold of a mage. Where is Rica? I hope Danver brings her soon.
He went in search to look for another mage. The castle ground was big enough to fit all the citizens of the five nations, hence it was tough looking the that mage, the disciple of Melania, Sarah. He found Sarah in the midst of other mages and made eye contact with her, looking tensed.
She understood and excused herself and went along with Casper. He summarized the situation as they were climbing the stairs of the heightened pillar of the southern gate.
Sarah was excellent at substance arcanum magic, she duplicated the spell and multiplied it.
"Finally, the fireworks will start, one load of the tension is out of my chest, as the citizens will be at ease, as Her majesty commanded. Lady Sarah, I urge you to remain here and see to the arrangements till her Majesty arrives ". Sarah was quick to understand and assured the knight commander.
Casper then headed down to the blossom garden, where the banquet was held, to ensure safety of the citizens. The beautiful fireworks had once again started as he heard the 'boom' voice of the crackers.
He wondered if her majesty, lady Dani and Sir Danver were finished with their works. When he arrived none of them were to be seen, a worried Casper prayed for their safety and quicker arrival.
He then carefully called out for some of his loyal and strong subordinates, gathered them at the southern gate and told them to get ready as they might have to hold their weapons on this auspicious day of the celebration." Wait for my order, everyone". He said and headed out to the garden once again.
But what Casper had prayed was not fulfilled as fate had already decided its path.
As Dani went on to search for Lord Deux, she circled around the whole city of Vasta, where she stumbled upon something terrible on the eastern boundary.
It was horrifying — something she could barely believe with her own eyes.
The Cruelmancers, thought to have been destroyed, had returned. They used a necromantic spell — dark magic drawn from the undead. It drained the life force of living beings and reanimated corpses as skeletal soldiers under their control.
Being a saintess, Dani's holy powers immediately sensed the vile spell's residue. She sent a flying scroll to Melania, warning her of the danger and something she had only suspected at this stage.
She then tried tracing the spell's source, but there were no magical traces left — the enemy had masked their trail completely. Frustrated and alarmed, Dani headed back toward the castle.
As she was going back she found Melania's earth spirit golem. She, then infused her holy powers into the golem, her last bit of mana left to tighten the security of the city.
She knelt down and asked goddess Lunaris to give her blessings to fight against the cruelmancers and stand up strongly alongside her comrades in this battle. "O Goddess Lunaris, diety of purity and goodness listen to my prayers.''
She got up and walked slowly only to feel a surge of mana in her. She thanked the Goddess, knelt down once again and used the divine levitation spell to reach the castle. The distance was shortened by 50 percent in comparison to only walking.
Meanwhile, the mighty dwarf emerged from the castle and into the banquet garden, only to see that Melania had not yet returned.
He spotted Casper at the middle of the garden along with the other knights and hurried to him. He took Casper to the other side of the garden.
Casper had an astonished look on his face as he felt something was amiss. Yes, it was Rica. Rica was nowhere to be seen, Casper thought to himself. He was surprised to see Danver return without Rica.
Danver explained him about everything that happened inside the castle and what he had deduced from these happenings.
Casper's expression grew grim, as he couldn't believe Danver's words. "We can't keep this a secret from the people," he said, "the tension here keeps rising."
Before either could act, a tremendous roar echoed from above.. A shadow engulfed half of the glittering light of the star Luna.
Darkness spread and loomed around the garden. The air became thicker with the temperatures lowering down, it was getting chilly.
The blushed blossom trees petals stopped gracing the green lush grass, a sign of ill omen . A massive, grotesque creature — a Skeleton Lord — materialized in the sky and appeared before them.
Its appearance could only have been made possible through teleportation magic.
In Memoria, teleportation portals existed only between cities, and since Vasta was self-sufficient with all the daily necessities, there was never any need for such magic here. Even if something was to be transported here, the designated mages were up to their task. For today's occasion it is also protected by a barrier.
But even the protection barrier is broken as per Sir Danver's testimony for what he observed in the secure chamber room. Could there be a connection here, he thought to himself.
But one thing surely popped in his mind, the one in charge of teleportation magic was none other than Rica.
Casper's thoughts raced. Where is Rica in such dire times?
As Casper looked up again, he noticed a figure standing beside the Skeleton Lord — their silhouette strikingly familiar. Could that person be controlling it?
Panic spread like wildfire among the crowd. Citizens screamed and scattered in terror.
Casper barked orders to all the people with power:
"Knights! Protect the mages! Mages, cast a protective barrier around the citizens! Priests, ready your holy spells — they're most effective against the undead!"
Then he told the citizens to assemble in the middle as the mages were casting the protective spell for the shield, it took enormous mana, but everyone worked together.
The knights arrived on Casper's order and created a formation as the situation demanded. The spear bearers stood with the mages protecting them while the mages were busy casting their spell for the shield while the ones who honed their talents with blade stood in attention behind Casper awaiting his order.
The priests knelt down together and asked for the goddess's blessings as the foe was darker and more creepier. The joined their hands and prayed in unison filling their golden core with the blessings of the goddess.
Even the dwarves rallied behind the knights. Danver led them in the front to provide assistance to the knights.
Everyone came together in this dire situation. Everything was ready for the war against this unknown creature who posed a threat to their world.
But nothing could be as worse as your ally becoming your enemy. This is exactly what happened as Casper froze, the figure above removed their black hood — revealing none other than Lord Deux himself.
Disbelief flashing across his face, anger accumulating in his fist, he was ready to throw a punch on the one who betrayed. "Deux!" He shouted, ''What is the meaning of this? Did you plan this all along?"
Deux smirked arrogantly. "Casper, there's no need to heed the words of those about to die. I will ensure this kingdom's destruction before Melania's very eyes.
The world which she united will be broken into pieces as she watches her precious people die before her.
What face will she make when she witnesses all this. Ah, I am so happy. But I guess there is no need for you to answer Casper, for the very person I waited for has made her appearance.
"Welcome, my dear elf empress — how does it feel to have your precious day ruined?"